Succulents and More™

One of the destinations on my early April trip to Portland, Oregon was the garden of mosaic artist and garden designer Jeffrey Bale . What little I knew about him I had gleaned from Loree’s post on her blog, danger garden . As I was working on this post, I did additional research and found that Jeffrey is not just some guy making mosaics, he’s world-renowned. You can see examples of his work on his own blog . Here’s some background on Jeremy. When you look at my photos of his garden below, keep this context in mind and you’ll understand better what his garden is about. Jeffrey earned a degree in landscape architecture from the University of Oregon in 1981. After briefly working at a traditional architectural firm (he lasted all of twenty minutes, apparently ), he left to travel around the world, studying the historical outdoor architecture of Europe, Southeast Asia, and Morocco. He was particularly influenced by the stone plazas of Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and the traditional Moor...

Many of you have been following my blog for a long time and know as much (or more) about me than I do myself; I'm not exactly a cryptic species. But if you're relatively new to my blog, there are some things you may not know.  In its May 2026 newsletter, the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society  had a feature about yours truly, based on a Q&A format. Nothing earth-shattering here, but I thought I'd repost it in case there are things you didn't know about me. 1. What piqued your interest in cacti/succulents? My mother had cacti and euphorbias on her windowsills when I was growing up. I got a moon cactus when I was 12. So it seems I’ve been around them forever. As an adult/gardener, my interest really took off when I realized that they make great landscape plants: They’re beautiful, and they need very little care. 2. Role in the club and why. I’ve been secretary and webmaster for a number of years. These roles play to my strengths. I’m well organized, and I work be...

I take photos in the garden virtually every day to document what’s going on. Many of these images don’t fit into specific categories, but they’re still worth showing. That’s why I have these occasional “This and that” posts. They’re the perfect vehicles for pictures that might otherwise remain unseen. Let’s get started with some cactus photos. Lophocereus schottii ‘Woolly Rhino’ seen from above Cardon ( Pachycereus pringlei ) seen from above My creeping devil ( Stenocereus eruca ) in the box Kyle made for me in August 2024. It’s doubled in size since then and has made a few offsets. I recently entered it in the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society Show. It won an Award of Excellence, which netted me $25 to spend at the event. The first wave of cactus flowers is always the best ( see this post ), but there’s been a nonstop succession since mid-April. I’ll have a separate post so these photos are just teasers: Parodia mammulosa var. roseolutea , probably my favorite cactus flower o...